Shoe



Jan.9, 1934. J T KERSHAW 1,942,652

' f SHOE Filed Aug. 28, 1929 l 40 /N VE/v TUR.

Patented Jan. 9, 1934 PATENT OFFICE SHOE John T. Kershaw, Haverhill, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application August 28, 1929. Serial No. 388,974

14 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in heels and in shoes having heels attached thereto. The invention is herein illustrated in connection with a wood heel having a breast cover- I ing a marginal portion of which is tucked into a groove in the heel breast, although the invention is not necessarily limited in its application to heels of that particular type. f

Heels of the Louis type are characterized by ro having a forwardly extending lip at the upper portion of the heel breast which materially enlarges the area of the attaching surface of the heel. Because of this characteristic, the area of the attaching surface of `a Louis heel is greater 15 than that of a Cuban heel of corresponding size. Consequently, the Louis type of heel is usually adopted in cases where it is desired to employ a relatively high and slender heel, inasmuch as Louis heels can be more firmly attached on account of their greater area of attaching surface.

The Cuban type of heel, however, is less expensive to manufacture and for that reason it is advantageous to use Cuban heels in certain grades of shoes.

In view of the foregoing, one object of the present invention is to provide a heel such, for example, as a wood heel, which is adapted to have a covering applied thereto and which has the advantage of an extended area of attaching surface analogous to that of a Louis heel and which has, in addition, at least one of the characteristic advantages of Cuban heels, namely, cheapness of manufacture.

With the above object in view, one feature of the present invention consists in a heel having at the upper portion of its breast, i. e., at the portion of its breast nearest to the attaching face of the heel, a forwardly extending lip formed with a fiat lower face sloping downwardly and rearwardly from the front edge of the lip, and a groove extending transversely across the heel breast below the lip for the reception of a marginal portion of a breast covering. As herein illustrated the entire surface of the heel breast below the groove is also at, except for the usual scallop near the lower or top-lift-receiving face of the heel, and is substantially perpendicular to said lower face, while the fiat lower face of the lip forms an obtuse angle with the perpendicular breast face, and intersects the attaching face of the heel. The fiat breast face below the groove imparts to the heel the straight breast line effect of the vCuban type of heel, which is desired in certain styles of shoes, while the lip of the heelafords extended area of attaching.

surface as in a Louis heel. To facilitate cheapness of manufacture the groove in the heel breast, as herein shown, is made with one of its side walls formed as an extension of the flat lower surface of the heel breast lip, such a con-.. 60

struction enabling the lip and the groove to -be formed by a single operation of a tool such as a circular saw or a band saw. The illustrated groove is adapted to receive both the upper margin of a covering for the lower portion of the breast and the lower margin of a covering for the upper or lip portion of the breast although,

if desired, one only of the two breast coverings referred to above may be tucked or turned into the groove, the margin of the other breast covering merely being butted against the tucked.- in margin.

As shown, the covering for the upper or lip portion of the heel breast consists of a short flap split from the sole of a shoe to which the heel is attached. Accordingly, the invention further resides in a shoe having a tread sole, a heel seated upon said sole and having at the upper portion of its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a fiat lower face, and a short so fiap integral with the tread sole and covering only the at lower face of said lip.

The invention further consists in features of construction and .combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of an uncovered heel constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a View in front elevation of the heel shown in Fig. 1; l

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view ofthe uncovered heel; l

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the uncovered as heel;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the heel as it appears after the rear and sides of the heel have been covered;

Fig. 6 is a view, partially in side elevation and partially in section, of a shoe having one of the improved heels attached thereto;

Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of a heel block from which a heel such as that shown in Figs. 1 to 4 may be made; and

Figs. 8 and 9 are side elevational views illustrating operations performed upon the heel block in the making of a heel.

Referring to the drawing, a wooden heel l0 is formed with. a rear face 12 andside faces 14 11o having -the usual curvature both heightwise and crosswise of the heel. The heel is further formed with a breast face 16 which is flat, except for the usual scallop 18 adjacent to the top-lift-receiving face 20 of the heel, and which terminates at its upper end in a sharply defined straight edge 21 which is parallel to the top-lift-engaging face 20. At the upper end of the heel breast there is formed a forwardly projecting lip 22 having a flat lower face 24 which slopes downwardly and rearwardly from the front edge of the lip and which is disposed in obtuse angular relation to the flat breast face 16. The heel is further provided with the usual cupped or concave attaching face-26. A relatively deep and narrow groove 1 28 extends across the breast of the heel below the lip 22 and between the flat breast faces 16 and 24. As shown, thel mouth of the groove 28 is straight and parallel to the plane of the toplift face 20. The upper side wall of the groove 28 is formed as an inward extension of the flat lower face of the lip 22 while the lower side wall of the groove 28 is parallel to the upper side wall.

As illustrated in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the above described heelv is made from a heel block A preferably by making a cut B in the forward upper portion of the block by means of a suitable tool such as a saw, thereby forming the breast lip 22,

and sawing away or otherwise removing the material below the lip 22 to a depth less than the depth of the saw cut B, to form the flat breast face 16 located in front of the bottom portion of the saw cut, thus leaving the bottom portion of the saw cut to constitute the cover-receiving groove 28, after which the rear, side and attaching faces of the heelmay be shaped in the usual xnxx-1 ner and a scallop formed in the lower portion of the heel breast, if desired.

In Fig. 6, a heel constructed as above described is shown as being covered by a side cover 30 and a separate covering 32 for the portion of the breast below the groove 28. The side cover 30, which may be made of any suitable material such as leather, fabric or celluloid, is applied and adhesively secured to the rear and sides of the heel in the usual manner, the margins of the cover being initially left projecting beyond the attachi ing, the top-lift-receiving, and the breast faces of the heel.

edges of the lip, as indicated at 36 in Fig. 5. If both projecting cover margins are laid against the heel breast it is desirable that the portions adjacent to the groove 28 be notched or cut away so as to avoid obstructing the mouth of the groove.

-While is has been found practicable, as herein shown, to lap the projecting side cover margins against the breast surface 16 these cover margins may be trimmed flush with the edges of the face 16 if desired, such an expedient being practicable, for example, when the side covering is made of celluloid. The portions of the cover margins which project beyond the attaching and top-lift-receiving Yfaces of the heel are laid against these faces in the usual way.

The covering 32 for the portion of the heel breast below the groove 28 preferably is cut to provide sulllcient surplus at its ends for overlapping the top-lift-receiving face 20 and for tucking into the groove 28, as shown in Fig. 6, and this covering may be initially cut to flt between the lateral edges of the breast surface 16 or the margins of the covering 32 may be trimmed flushl with the breast corners after the covering has been applied to the heel breast. After the breast covering 32 is adhesively secured to the heel 85' breast ang' its lower and upper ends are respectively lai againstthe face 20 and tucked into the groove 28, the lateral edges of the upper end portion of the covering 32 are concealed by the side cover 30.

The heel is then ready for attachment to the tread sole of a shoe such as the shoe 40 shown in Fig. 6. After attachment of the heel to the shoe the lower face of the lip 22 is covered by means of a short flap 38 (Fig. 6) which has previously been split-fromthe outer or grain side of the tread sole 42 of the shoe. rThis flap 38 is adhesively secured to the face 24 of the lip 22 and the end margin of the flap is tucked into the groove 28 (see Fig. 6) above the previously 100 tucked-in portion of the breast covering 32.

In covering the breasts of Louis heels it has heretofore been customary to split from the sole of the shoe to which the heel is to be attached a breast covering flap long enough to cover not only the upper or lip portion of the heel breast but to extend to the top-lift end of the heel. In cases where the height of the heel breast is greater than the length of the attaching face the sole of the shoe must originally be cut longer than the bottom of the last on which the shoe is to be made to insure the requisite length of the sole flap with the heel of the above-described w."struction. Inasmuch asonly the lip portion of the hec-l breast is to be covered by the sole flap it is obvious that a shorter sole may be used than would otherwise be necessary, thus effecting a substantial saving of sole material.

The illustrated heel, while having the straight breast front characteristic of a Cuban heel, may be more firmly attached to a shoe than the usual Cuban heel because of the presence of the forwardly extending lip 22 which materially enlarges the area of the attaching surface of the heel. Moreover, because ofthe fiat contour of its breast surfaces the illustrated'heel may be more cheaply manufactured than any lipped heels or heels of the Louis type heretofore manufactured or proposed. 'I'he groove 28 in the illustrated heel affords a means for firmly securing both the upper end of the breast covering 16 and the extremity of the sole nap 24.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A heel having at the upper portion of its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a fiat lower face sloping downwardly and rearward- -ly from the front edge of the lip, and a groove extending transversely across the heel breast below said face for the reception of a marginal portion of a covering to be applied to the heel breast.

2. A heel having two flat breast faces relatively inclined heightwise of the heel breast in obtuse angular relation, and a groove between said faces for receiving a marginal portion of a covering for one of said faces.

3. A heel formed with a forwardly projecting lip at the upper portion of its breast and having a flat breast face below the lip, said lip having an uncovered lower race sloping downwardly and rearwardly from the front `,edge of the lip and forming a sharply defined obtuse angle relatively to said flat breast face, and said heel having a covering upon its rear and side faces and said covering overlapping said nat breast race.

4. A heel having at the upper portion of its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a :dat lower face inclined downwardly and rearwardly from the front edge of the lip, and a straight groove extending transversely across the heel breast below said face for the reception of a marginal portion of a covering to be applied to the heel breast, the side walls of the groove being transversely inclined at an angle corresponding to the angle of inclination oi the iiat lower face oi the lin.

5. A heel having at the upper portion oi its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a at lower face, a flat breast face below the lin, a straight and relatively deep and narrow groove between the said faces, and covering material upon the rear, side and breast faces oi the heel having an end portion tucked into said groove.

S. .a heel having at the upper portion of its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a :dat lower face, a flat breast face below the lip, a straight groove between said faces, and a covering for said breast face having a marginal portion extending into said groove.

7. A heel having at the upper portion oi its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a hat lower face, e. at breast face below the lilo,` a straight groove between said faces, a covering for the rear and sides or the heel having end portions covering the ends oi said groove, and a separate covering for the breast face.

8. A shoe having a tread sole, a heel seated upon said sole and having at the upper portion oi' its breast a forwardly extending lip formed with a fiat lower lace, and a short flap integral with said sole and covering only the fiat lower tace oi said lip.

9. A shoe comprising a tread sole having a short nap split from the outer side of its rear portion, and a heel having a forwardly extending lip at the upper portion of its breast, said lip having a nat lower race and said heel having a dat breast face below said lip, the body of the split rear portion of the sole overlying the attaching tace ofthe heel and said soleap covering the fiat lower face of said lip.

10`. A shoe having atread sole,.a heel formed with two iiat breast faces relatively inclined heightwise of the heel, a short iiap split from the outer side of the tread sole and covering one of said breast faces, and a separate covering for the other oi' said breast faces.

1l. A shoe having a heel formed with two flat breast faces relatively inclined heightwise of the heel and separated by a straight groove extending crosswiseof the heel breast, a tread sole having a rear portion seated upon the attaching face of the heeL'and a short ap split from the outer side oi the tread sole covering one of said nat breast faces and having its end portion received within said groove.

12. A shoe having a tread sole, a heel formed Ywith two flat breast faces relatively inclined heightwise of the heel and separated by astraight groove extending crosswise of the heel breast, a short ap split from the outer side of the tread sole covering one of said t breast faces and having its end portion received within said groove, and a separate covering for the other of said breast faces having an end portion received within said groove beside the end portion of the sole flap.

13. A shoe having a tread sole, a heel having' a ilat breast face and a lip constructed and arranged to extend the attaching face oi the heel forwardly beyond said breast face, a short flap integral with the tread sole, said iiap covering one side of said lip and having an exposed outer surface, and a covering separate from said sole for said iiat breast face, said covering adjoining said nap along a line extending crosswise of the heel breast and substantially parallel to the tonfiiftreceiving face of the heel.

le. lin a shoe ha aheel breast covering flap split from the tread sole,'a heel having a forward- ,ly extending lip covered by said breast flap and a groove in the breast face beneath the lip receiving the end portion of the sole nap, a covering for the rear and sides of the heel having end portions overlapping the lateral margins of the heel breast, and a separate covering for the breast of the heel below the lip having a marginal portion tucked into said groove.

TUM T. KERSHAW. 

